May ’18 Blog Train

My kitchen window faces the morning sunrise. Three crystal prisms hang there in the sun, splashing brilliant rainbows against the walls. I take a deep breath and give thanks for all the small things and all the big things that can only exist through the grace of God. My family. My home.

I look out upon the upper fields of the Rush Ranch. Sunflower (The wild mustang) is racing back and forth across the field this morning, expressing her displeasure that Lacy (the calm and gentle horse) has been taken away for the summer. Lacy belongs to a neighbor teenager, and every summer he and Lacy become part of a “Great Train Robbery” show in Sumpter, Washington. Sunflower loves having Lacy with her all winter, and hates it when Lacy goes away for the summer. I hate it, too, because I am sad for Sunflower. But Sunflower does have the two neighbor horses to visit with, across the fence. There is “Whinny”, the beautiful white Arabian, and “Scratchy”, the Shetland. Can you tell that they were named by the three neighbor girls, all under the age of 8? The Arabian is such a beautiful and graceful animal; it deserves a name worthy of him, don’t you think? Something majestic and royal, like “Sir Lancelot”, “Apollo”, or “Michelangelo”.

(That’s Scratchy in the foreground, and Sunflower in the back. Sunflower has
been rolling in the dirt, as you can see…..)

Scratchy is forever escaping his place of residence, and running over here to spend time with our horses. Over here, he can share in the apple and molasses-coated oats that my husband feeds the horses for a treat. Scratchy has never met an apple that he didn’t like. We actually miss Scratchy when his owner comes over to collect him. Each horse has their own treat bucket, even scratchy. Husband dishes out the treats, and our lab then tries to steal the apples from the buckets before the horses get them. In the summertime, both horses and dogs can go pick their own apples directly from the trees, so this game of swiping apples is a winter sport.

Our lab is 10 years old this month. We have had him since he was a few weeks old. A neighbor‘s dog had puppies, and our “Murphy” was a runt. We immediately fell in love with him. He now takes Rimadyl each day for his hip, and it is a funny routine that occurs EVERY morning. Husband gives him a Rimadyl, and Murphy immediately spits it out on the floor. The husband says “You need to take that – it’s your medicine”. Murphy picks it back up and eats it. EVERY morning. Murphy has his share of quirks too numerous to mention – he usually carries a toy in his mouth – We call it his security “boo-boo”. Usually a stuffed squirrel or frog. He won’t pass through a door unless it is wide-open. He barks if my husband gives me a hug or smooch in the kitchen. When he goes for a walk with my husband, he barks for a full minute to let everyone know that he is VERY happy, taking his dad for a walk.

This month I participated in a free “Crochet Along”, also known as a “CAL”. Rebecca over at Yarn + Chai led over 20,000 people on a CAL to make her Malia tote. It was fun seeing all of the different colors people used, and how they enhanced the bag with lining or special findings. The pattern is still free and people are still signing up, so head on over there is you want to try something new. This is my first bag I’ve ever made, and first time working with mercerized cotton. I learned a lot and enjoyed the camaraderie. Here is my result:

The theme for the monthly Blog Train over at Pixelscrapper is Flower Power. Here is a link back to the blog train forum. All kits are free to download, but will have different terms of use. As always my work is free for you to use, both personal and commercial. All I ask is that you pass along a kindness to a stranger this month.

Sunny, I love the little peeks into your life. Your thoughts often lead to changes in my own life. Today, I am reminded of the need for continual gratitude for His grace and mercy in our lives. Thank you for sharing yourself in your words and your exquisite art. I have to confess that after I download each blog train into its own folder to be saved on my external hard drive, I make copies of your gifts and keep them in a folder on my desktop. I so enjoy looking through your designs, both to encourage me and to use for creating encouragement cards to mail to friends and family. Thanks for being a blessing!
Madge

Beautiful as always Sunny, thank you. I love that Murphy has his little routines. Animals are so cute like that. When we had our cat – who passed away 6 years ago at 18 – he would follow us out the door every morning and stand on the porch until my husband pointed his finger at him like a gun and said “Bang!” Simba would fall to the porch and writhe around on his back for a minute and then get up and walk inside with complete cat-like dignity.

I love reading your blogs about your farm and the animals, thanks for sharing about your farm life. Your purse is absolutely beautiful. You did a great job on it. Thank you for your digital scrapbooking kit as well. You are so generous. God Bless.

Sunny,
Your designs, this month, are beautiful, per your usual! Thank you for your contribution and,thank you for sharing your natural life at your farm; it sounds like you live in paradise! I’m totally in love with your Murphy. 🙂
If you haven’t yet read this book, I highly recommend it: Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, by Carl Safina. It’s fantastic and I’m sure you will enjoy it!

Thank you so much for your beautiful inspiring work! It reminds me of my Mom before she passed. She loved the Vintage flowers and jewelry., and you’ve been an inspiration to me just new getting into digi-scrapping! Thank you so much for all the love you put into your work.

Also, I had mis-placed your email, but you sent me your dragon and dragonfly pins, and I didn’t get to chance to tell you how much I appreciated it…love my dragons! Thank You and God Bless! 🙂

Just wanted to say thank you for all the beautiful items you share! Also, a note on Rimadyl – you can purchase them from a different pharmacy rather than your vet. (you’ll need a prescription though. WM sells a generic equivalent for less than $1/pill (25 mg) and the brand name for about $1.30/pill. My teacup poodle is on Rimadyl twice daily although she will not eat either one, so it must be crushed, mixed with water and squirted into her mouth! Wish she would eat them.:) We have noticed however, that she does much better on the generic pill than the brand name.